The present invention relates to a flats bundle collator, and particularly to a collator apparatus that will merge separate groups of pre-addressed, similar mail documents imprinted with a POSTNET barcode or delivery point indicia into a stream of mail document groups that are consistently ordered in delivery point sequence, where each document group is to be delivered to a distinct delivery point in sequence along a mail delivery route.
The Postal Service is constantly working towards increasing the speed and efficiency in delivering mail. To this end, the processing of mail is increasingly being performed by automatically controlled and operated machinery, which sorts mail in accordance with its ultimate destination for ease and efficiency of delivery to a specific delivery point along a mail carrier""s route.
As part of the automation and efficient delivery of the mail, sorter machines have been developed that sort regular mailpieces in a sequence corresponding to the delivery point route used by the mailperson for delivery to individual addresses. An example of a carrier sequence bar code sorter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,225. However, these machines cannot sort the larger, odd shaped and non-uniform rigid flat mailpieces described below.
Present mail handling systems are designed to process regular mail and/or flat mail, the latter being defined as FSM 881 automation mail in the Domestic Mail Manual. Flat mail ranges from four to fifteen and three-quarters inches in length, from four to twelve inches in width, and from 0.007 to 1.25 inches thick, weighing from 0.01 to 6 pounds. The types of mail in the flat category include, but are not limited to: catalogs, magazines (with or without sleeves or polywrap), newspapers, padded envelopes, single sheet flyers, and compact disks. Currently, there are no known prior art machines that perform sequencing of such flats mail.
A large quantity of flat mail today comprises mass mailings, which may include several thousand or more magazines, catalogs and the like which are delivered to Postal sorting facilities in bundles, each piece within the bundle organized in delivery point sequence, primarily according to an eleven digit POSTNET delivery point designation, with each mailpiece imprinted with a POSTNET barcode representing the delivery point of the mailpiece. The first five digits of the POSTNET barcode identify the post office servicing the area encompassing the designated delivery point, the second four digits identify a zone within the area serviced by the designated post office, and the last two digits identify the distinct delivery point, such as an individual home or an apartment unit in a building, etc. Each bundle of similar mailpieces is prepared by a magazine or catalog publisher, or other mass mailing house, in delivery point sequence according to a POSTNET designation, and then delivered to a postal facility for sortation and further processing. It should be understood however that not all bundles or mailings are comprised of sequenced mailpieces.
Prior to the present invention, such flat mail was sorted by hand by postal employees, and placed in bundles according to delivery points along a mail delivery route. This manual sortation is time consuming and highly labor intensive. Therefore, an apparatus was considered that would automatically receive many bundles of mail documents, each bundle composed of similar pieces of mail organized by delivery point sequence, which apparatus would merge the documents in each bundle into a discrete new document group, where each new individual group includes mail documents designated for delivery to a single delivery point. Regular mailpieces addressed to the same delivery point are added to each new individual group and the combined mailpieces are placed in a pocket or container in a sequence corresponding to the selected delivery route. The apparatus under consideration would also be capable of adding non-barcoded mail documents to each document group, in a mailing where every delivery point address along a route receives a particular piece of mail.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to automate the collation of flat mailpieces, each imprinted with a POSTNET barcode or other delivery point indicia, which mailpieces are received from the publisher of the mailpiece in a delivery point sequence or non-barcoded mailings where every delivery point address along a route receives a particular piece of mail, into a single stream of new document groups and which mailpieces are merged that are consistently oriented and in delivery point sequence for delivery of each new group to a designated delivery point address.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a collator apparatus that permits the rapid feeding of large volumes of bundles of both pre-sequenced and non-barcoded similar flat mailpieces into a sortation system that creates new individual groups of dissimilar mailpieces for delivery of each new group to a single delivery point.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a collator apparatus that captures the image of a delivery point indicia on each piece of flat mail processed by the collator, and transmits that delivery point data to a data processing unit for operational control of the collator.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a flat mailpiece collator comprising multiple feed stations and which can be operated by one person.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a document unloading device that rapidly and firmly grips an individual mailpiece in a stack of mailpieces, and transfers the mailpiece for deposit onto a new group of mailpieces addressed to the same delivery point.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for rejecting mailpieces which include a delivery point indicia which cannot be read by the image capture device, or which are out of sequence in the original stack of mailpieces.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for retaining a mailpiece on a buffer platform until a new group of mailpieces bearing the same delivery point indicia and/or collated to the same delivery point, is advanced by a collation conveyor to a position beneath the buffer platform.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a collator for merging separate groups of delivery point sequenced mailpieces into a single stream of new mailpiece bundles that are consistently oriented in delivery point sequence, and which collator incorporates a first data processing unit for controlling the collator operation, and a second data processing unit which is used off-line from the collator for software and U.S. Postal Service data network interface development.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for merging separate groups of delivery point sequenced bundled flat mailpieces into a single stream of mailpieces that are consistently oriented in individual new bundles for each delivery point, which apparatus includes a plurality of individual document feed units processing the mailpieces and depositing the mailpieces on a single moveable conveyor system which includes a plurality of pockets, each pocket representing a different and distinct delivery point.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an automatic unloader for depositing multiple new groups of consistent delivery point addressed mailpieces from a conveyor into containers, where the new groups of mailpieces are arranged in an order corresponding to the sequence of delivery over a predetermined delivery route.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for collating a plurality of separate groups or bundles of similar mailpieces arranged in a predetermined delivery point sequence, each mailpiece imprinted with a distinct delivery point or address indicia, to provide a single stream of mailpieces in new groups, where each new group comprises a plurality of mailpieces all addressed to a distinct delivery point. The apparatus comprises a plurality of feed units, each unit configured to process a quantity of similar mailpieces, each with a distinct delivery point indicia on the face of the mailpiece, and to deposit each mailpiece in a distinct pocket on a collation conveyor which traverses all of the plurality of feed units. Each pocket will ultimately contain different mail pieces, all addressed to the same delivery point. Multiple new groups of mailpieces are then automatically placed in containers in a sequence corresponding to a predetermined delivery route.
Each feed unit comprises two independently vertically and horizontally moveable document platforms that rapidly and continuously advance large quantities of delivery point sequenced and imprinted mailpieces or documents in a stack to a feed station. An image capture camera obtains the digital image of the delivery point indicia on the topmost mailpiece of the stack, and transmits the data from the image to a data processing unit which controls the operation of each individual feed unit, the operations of the collation conveyor which traverses all of the individual feed units and receives mailpieces from each feed unit, and the operation of the automatic traying apparatus which places delivery point consistent groups of mailpieces in containers corresponding to a predetermined delivery route sequence.
After the image capture camera has captured the digital image of the delivery point indicia on the topmost mailpiece, a suction and gripper mechanism at the feed station of each collator unit engages and removes the topmost mailpiece in each stack of mailpieces advanced to the feed station, and moves the topmost mailpiece to a moveable buffer platform disposed over the collation conveyor. The suction and gripper mechanisms then return to a home position to be ready to engage and remove the next topmost mailpiece. If the data processing unit detects a match between the delivery point of the mailpiece on the buffer platform and the delivery point designation of the collation conveyor pocket directly below the buffer platform, the buffer platform is moved out from beneath the mailpiece on the buffer platform to deposit the mailpiece in the designated pocket on the collation conveyor. If the data processing unit does not detect a match between the delivery point of the mailpiece and the delivery point designation of the collation conveyor pocket directly below the buffer platform, the buffer platform remains in place and the mailpiece is not deposited onto the collation conveyor until a match, as described herein, is sensed upon lateral movement of the collation conveyor across each of the individual feed units.
The buffer platform is capable of movement from a first position over the collation conveyor to a second position over a reject conveyor or platform. If the image capture camera cannot read the POSTNET barcode on a particular mailpiece, or the mailpiece is deemed by the data processing unit to be out of sequence, that mailpiece is retained on the buffer platform as the buffer platform moves to its second position over the reject conveyor or platform. The mailpiece is then retained in place while the buffer platform moves out from under the mailpiece and back to its home position, and the mailpiece is deposited on the reject conveyor or platform. Rejected mailpieces are then manually added to the appropriate bundle of similarly addressed mailpieces.
A retractable finger assembly is adapted to ride in corresponding grooves in the buffer platform, and engages either the leading edge or trailing edge of the mailpiece when the data processing unit commands the collator to retain the document on the buffer platform as the buffer platform moves out from under a mailpiece. The finger assembly is also retractable away from the buffer platform to allow a mailpiece to remain on the buffer platform as the platform is moved from its position above the collation conveyor to its position over the reject conveyor.
The collation conveyor of the present invention comprises an endless belt extending in a continuous run past each of the plurality of feed units. Substantially vertically extending fingers disposed on the collation conveyor belt define sequenced pockets on the conveyor, each pocket identified in the data processing unit with a distinct delivery point address. Therefore, as each pocket of the collation conveyor arrives at the end of the conveyor belt run, each pocket contains a group of dissimilar mailpieces all collated to the same delivery point. The groups are then automatically placed in containers for delivery pursuant to a predetermined route sequence.
At the end of the collation conveyor, which now supports a new group of mailpieces in individual pockets, each pocket comprising mailpieces for one designated delivery point address, a system is provided to load each new group into containers in a sequence corresponding to a predetermined delivery route.